System and method for automated printing of network documents

ABSTRACT

A system and method for contemporaneous printing of a document along with content obtained from a network, in accordance with embedded network address information, includes a print engine, a network interface and an intelligent controller. An electronic document is parsed to identify at least one embedded network addresses. Content associated with each embedded network address is obtained from a network and printed contemporaneously with the original document. Separator pages preceding content obtained from the network are generated and include the network address from which content that follows was obtained, along with a page number in the original document where the address appeared.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to printing of electronic documents.The application relates more particularly to automated identificationand printing of documents retrieved from network locations referenced inan electronic document during printing of the electronic document.

BACKGROUND

Document processing devices include printers, copiers, scanners ande-mail gateways. More recently, devices employing two or more of thesefunctions are found in office environments. These devices are referredto as multifunction peripherals (MFPs) or multifunction devices (MFDs).As used herein, MFPs are understood to comprise printers, alone or incombination with other of the afore-noted functions. It is furtherunderstood that any suitable document processing device can be used.

Digital devices, such as computers, including MFPs, are increasinglynetworked to share data, documents or resources. The advent and growthof the global Internet provides digital devices with access to a widearray of digital content, including web pages for display on a browserand electronic image files that can be downloaded, displayed and evenedited. If a user desires to print network content, they typicallynavigate to a site, such as via a web browser, a remote login or via afile transfer protocol (FTP). The user then downloads the content andsaves it to their local device. Then, they may open an application thatcorresponds to a file type, such as a word processor, and send thedocument to a printer for printing.

If a user downloads multiple file types, they may have to use severalapplications to view and print them. By way of example, a user maydownload a document in Portable Document Format (PDF), save it tomemory, and open it with ADOBE Reader to view and print. They may thendownload an image file, such as a JPEG, bitmap or GIF file and open itwith a program such as PAINT for viewing and printing.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an example embodiment of the subject application, asystem and method for contemporaneous printing of a document along withcontent obtained from a network in accordance with embedded networkaddress information includes a print engine, a network interface and anintelligent controller. An electronic document is parsed to identify atleast one embedded network addresses. Content associated with eachembedded network address is obtained from a network and printed alongwith the original document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments will become better understood with regard to thefollowing description, appended claims and accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is an example embodiment of a printing system;

FIG. 2 is an example embodiment of a networked digital device;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example embodiment of a document renderingsystem for automated printing of network content identified in adocument; and

FIG. 4 is an example embodiment of a printed document.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The systems and methods disclosed herein are described in detail by wayof examples and with reference to the figures. It will be appreciatedthat modifications to disclosed and described examples, arrangements,configurations, components, elements, apparatuses, devices methods,systems, etc. can suitably be made and may be desired for a specificapplication. In this disclosure, any identification of specifictechniques, arrangements, etc. are either related to a specific examplepresented or are merely a general description of such a technique,arrangement, etc. Identifications of specific details or examples arenot intended to be, and should not be, construed as mandatory orlimiting unless specifically designated as such.

Many documents today include references to network locations. Forexample, a document may identify a website that may be relevant to anassociated topic, by stating “For more information, please check outwww.company.com.” A document may also include specific reference to adownloadable document, such by stating, “This document can be found atwww.company.com/document.pdf.” If a user wishes to have a completeprintout of a main document and referenced documents, they would need toprint the electronic file, find network links that appear in thedocument, login with their browser and then download each document totheir local drive. Then, for each file, they would open a compatibleapplication for viewing and printing. They would then print eachdocument and assemble them with a printout of the main document.

In accordance with example embodiments herein, a user need only send anelectronic file to a suitably enabled printer and documents or web pagesreferenced in that document would automatically be obtained from anetwork and printed alongside the base document.

In accordance with the subject application, FIG. 1 illustrates anexample embodiment of 100 that includes one or more MFPs, illustrated byMFP 104, which are in data communication with one or more servers, suchas server 108, via any suitably data network 112, which may be comprisedof a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) which maycomprise the Internet, or any suitable combination thereof. An originaldocument 120 includes one or more embedded network locations, such as aUniform Resource Locator (URL) 124 for www.company.com as illustrated.Original document 120 is suitably in electronic form, or placed inelectronic form by a document scanner 128 of MFP 104. If an originalelectronic document includes character data, a processor, suitably partof an intelligent controller of MFP 104, suitably parses the documentfor character strings indicative of a network address. Suitable networklocations may be specified by a URL as noted above, or by an InternetProtocol address such as and IP v.4 address such as 111.112.113.114 oran IP v.6 address such as 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:ff00:0042:8329.

A URL may point to a web site from which a printout of a page can bemade, or to a particular document for retrieval. In the event of ascanned original document, a resultant scan image file is suitablyprocessed via any suitable optical character recognition (OCR) programto extract character information which may include network locations. Inthe example embodiment of FIG. 1, URL 124 is detected in an characterinclusive electronic file, and that address is used to retrieve contentfrom server 108 associated with that address. Content is downloaded fromserver 108, and associated with an electronic file for document 120. Aprinting of document 120 is automatically appended with a printout ofcontent obtained from server 108. This is suitably done for any or allidentifiable network content resources provided in original document120.

Turning now to FIG. 2 illustrated is an example embodiment of anetworked digital device comprised of document rendering system 200suitably comprised within an MFP, such as with MFP 104 of FIG. 1.Included in controller 201 are one or more processors, such as thatillustrated by processor 202. Each processor is suitably associated withnon-volatile memory, such as ROM 204, and random access memory (RAM)206, via a data bus 212.

Processor 202 is also in data communication with a storage interface 208for reading or writing to a storage 216, suitably comprised of a harddisk, optical disk, solid-state disk, cloud-based storage, or any othersuitable data storage as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill inthe art.

Processor 202 is also in data communication with a network interface 210which provides an interface to a network interface controller (NIC) 214,which in turn provides a data path to any suitable wired or physicalnetwork connection 220, or to a wireless data connection via wirelessnetwork interface 218. Example wireless connections include cellular,Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, wireless universal serial bus (wireless USB),satellite, and the like. Example wired interfaces include Ethernet, USB,IEEE 1394 (FireWire), Lightning, telephone line, or the like. Processor202 is also in data communication with BLUETOOTH Interface 221 which maybe programmed to function as a device beacon as noted above.

Processor 202 can also be in data communication with any suitable userinput/output (I/O) interface 219 which provides data communication withuser peripherals, such as displays, keyboards, mice, track balls, touchscreens, or the like.

Also in data communication with data bus 212 is a document processorinterface 222 suitable for data communication with MFP functional units250. In the illustrated example, these units include copy hardware 240,scan hardware 242, print hardware 244 and fax hardware 246 whichtogether comprise MFP functional hardware 250.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 for an example embodiment of a documentrendering system for automated printing of network content identified ina document. The process commences at block 302 with a document printrequest and a user request to print network content is made at block304. An original document is received at block 306. If it is anelectronic document as determined at block 308, the processing continuesto block 318 to determine if addresses are embedded in the document. Ifit is a paper document as determined at block 308, then it is scanned atblock 312 and subject to optical character recognition at block 314. Ifthe original is already an electronic document, it is suitably subjectto optical character recognition if needed at block 314. Next, thecharacter inclusive electronic file is parsed at block 316 to determineif any network locations for content, such as hyperlinks, are present.If it is determined at block 318 that no addresses are embedded, theoriginal document is print alone at block 320 and the process ends atblock 322.

If one or more network content addresses are discovered in the parseddocument at block 318, then a page location for each link is suitablydetermined at block 326. Content, such as a document or webpage, isretrieved from the network at block 330. If a retrieval error isdetermined at block 334, the user is suitably notified at block 336. Ifno error is present, or if a user notification has been made, presenceof another link in the document is determined at block 338. The processreturns to block 330 until all available content is obtained. If thereare no page sets to print, such as in a case when no content could beretrieved for any embedded link, as determined by block 342, theoriginal document is printed alone at block 320 and the process ends atblock 322.

If one or more sets of content pages are available for printing, a pagecount for each set is suitably made at block 348 and this count iscompared to a preselect threshold value at 352. This functions toprevent extremely large printouts since a document length from a linkmay be quite large. If the threshold is exceeded, the user is given theoption to still print that content or abort it at block 354. If theychoose to abort printing that set, the process returns to block 342 todetermine if more sets are available. If the threshold is not exceededor if the user chooses to print a set exceeding the threshold, then aseparator page is generated at block 356, suitably showing theassociated URL from which the content to follow is obtained along with apage number in the original document where the link can be located.

Once the original document, separator pages and network content has beenassembled, the original document is printed at block 360, followed byprinting a separator page at block 362, and content associated with thatURL at block 364. If more content remains as determined by block 370,the process returns to block 362. If not, the process ends at block 322.From the forgoing, it will be understood that a user need only feed inan original document with links, such as URLs, in written text andselect “Print.” The resultant printout will be the original documentfollowed by appendices of all web content identified in the text.

Referring next to FIG. 4, illustrated is an example embodiment of aprinted document 400 including appended web content. Entry of a singleprint command results in the printing of base document 404, followed byseparator page 408 which precedes identified web content 412. One ormore additional separator pages 416 and associated web content 420follows.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the spirit andscope of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A document processing system comprising: a printengine; a network interface; and an intelligent controller, including aprocessor and memory, configured to enable operation of the printengine, the memory configured to store an electronic document, theprocessor configured to parse a stored electronic document for at leastone embedded network address, the processor further configured to send apage request to the at least one network address parsed from theelectronic document via the network interface, the processor furtherconfigured to receive content data received via the network interfaceresponsive to each page request, and the controller further configuredto commence operation of the print engine to print the electronicdocument and the content data contemporaneously.
 2. The documentprocessing system of claim 1 wherein the network address is comprised ofan Internet address.
 3. The document processing system of claim 2wherein the Internet address is comprised of a uniform resource locator.4. The document processing system of claim 3 wherein the processor isfurther configured to generate a separator page between a printout ofthe electronic document and a printout of the content data.
 5. Thedocument processing system of claim 4 wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to print the uniform resource locator on the separator page.6. The document processing system of claim 3 wherein the processor isfurther configured to calculate a number of printed pages associatedwith the content data, wherein the processor is further configured togenerate a user prompt on an associated user interface when a calculatednumber of printed pages associated with the content data exceeds apreselected threshold value, wherein the user interface is configured toreceive a user selection responsive to the generated user prompt via theuser interface, and wherein the processor is further configured toselectively print the electronic document in accordance with a receiveduser selection.
 7. The document processing system of claim 3 furthercomprising a scan engine configured to generate the electronic documentfrom a tangible document.
 8. A method comprising: storing an electronicdocument in a memory; parsing, via a processor, a stored electronicdocument for at least one embedded network address; sending a pagerequest to the at least one network address parsed from the electronicdocument via a network interface; receiving content data responsive toeach page request via the network interface; and printing the electronicdocument and the content data contemporaneously by a print engine. 9.The method of claim 8 wherein the network address is comprised of anInternet address.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the Internet addressis comprised of a uniform resource locator.
 11. The method of claim 10further comprising generating a separator page between a printout of theelectronic document and a printout of the content data.
 12. The methodof claim 11 further comprising printing the uniform resource locator onthe separator page.
 13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:calculating a number of printed pages associated with the content data;generating a user prompt on an associated user interface when acalculated number of printed pages associated with the content dataexceeds a preselected threshold value; receiving a user selectionresponsive to the generated user prompt via the user interface; andselectively printing the electronic document in accordance with thereceived user selection.
 14. The method of claim 10 further comprisingscanning a tangible document by a scan engine to generate the electronicdocument.
 15. A system comprising: a scanner configured to generate anelectronic image of a tangible document; a processor configured toperform optical character recognition on the electronic image togenerate an electronic document inclusive of character data, theprocessor further configure to parse the electronic document for atleast one embedded Internet address, the processor further configured toconnect to a networked device corresponding to the at least one embeddedInternet address via a network interface, and the processor furtherconfigured to receive an electronic document from the networked device;and a printer configured to print an image of the tangible documentcontemporaneously with an image of the received electronic document. 16.The system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured tooutput a separator page between a printout of the tangible document anda printout of the received electronic document.
 17. The system of claim15 wherein the received electronic document is a rendering of a web pageassociated with the networked device.
 18. The system of claim 15 whereinthe received electronic document is comprised of an electronic documentfile resident on the networked device.
 19. The system of claim 18wherein the electronic document file is comprised of an image file. 20.The system of claim 18 wherein the electronic document is comprised ofan editable electronic file.